The owner of a major newspaper in Los Angeles, an Asian-American billionaire, urged Americans to face up to its problem of systemic racism.
Soon-Shiong is one of the few Asian business leaders to speak out about the attacks on Asian Americans, and he urged others to do the same
BILLIONAIRE Patrick Soon-Shiong, owner of the Los Angeles Times, urged America to finally admit it has a racism problem.
The billionaire issued the statement after several brutal attacks on Asian Americans.
According to Soon-Shiong, racism has been deeply rooted in America’s history. To date, there is unconscious bias and racism in every day interactions and conversations.
Patrick Soon-Shiong is the founder and executive chairman of biotech company ImmunityBio. He also owns LA’s major publication, the Los Angeles Times.
As for what he believes needs to be done, the businessman says that America must recognize that it has racist tendencies. Once they accept this as a fact, it is time for them to finally break it.
Soon-Shiong is of Chinese descent, but was born in South Africa. He expressed his disappointment at the surge in hate crimes against Asian Americans in the country amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
From South Africa, he moved to the US in 1977. Although he thought he was going to the “land of the free,” he says he was “completely disenchanted.”
Soon-Shiong is one of the few Asian business leaders to speak out about the attacks on Asian Americans, and he urged others to do the same.
As for why he believes people haven’t spoken up about it yet, he says it's because it’s been part of Asian culture for centuries.
“Unfortunately, the Asian culture and mentality is just to suck it up. Do your work. Do your thing. Be quiet.”
While this was the case, the mentality needs to change soon especially since the lives of the community are at risk due to an increase in racist hate crimes in America. (MO)
Tags: #UnitedStates, #AsianAmericans, #hatecrimes, #PatrickSoonShiong